There are some who enjoy taking medicines—it gives them a feeling of being in control and a sense of security. This post is about the rest of us who are never happy about popping pills or taking injections.

Sometimes we have no alternative. Perhaps it is unbearable pain, or an acute condition that requires you to take some medicines. Or may be you are suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, high BP, thyroid and so on, for which you need pop a few pills. Some people continue taking medicines only out of fear—because their doctor, while prescribing, warned about the repercussions of not taking them. Then there are those who have tried alternative modalities before finally giving in to the medicines.

Whichever category you belong to, if you have to take the help of medicines to keep your body going, you might as well do it happily. It does not matter if you are taking one tablet or 10, resenting it will only add to your stress and put more pressure on your body. Remember, any kind of stress makes it more difficult for the body to heal, or reverse, any disease.

Often, we change our diet and lifestyle in the hope that our our health improves. But the effects of these measures take time and may not be apparent immediately. So, you need your medicines at least till the time your body begins to function optimally without them. Patience usually pays off. Until then, you could practise a simple ritual.

From now on, whenever before you pop your pills or prepare to take your insulin dose, just pause for a moment and affirm to yourself silently or aloud:

“This medicine supports my body in the perfect way that it needs to right now. My body is healing itself.”

After this, take your medicines with a feeling of gratitude. Because, these medicines are supporting you and your body until the time you are strong enough to not need them.

For what diseases can homeopathy help?

Homeopathy can help in a wide range of conditions except cases that are strictly surgical or severe infections. Chronic diseases like psoriasis, eczema, arthritis, auto-immune diseases, anxiety, thyroid disorders, sinusitis, hair fall, acne, PCOD, menstrual complaints, all these can be well treated with homeopathy. If you are not sure, just discuss your condition with a qualified homeopath and understand the scope of homeopathy to help you. Your homeopath will also be able to tell you an approximate time in which you will see improvement in your case.

What is the correct way to take homeopathic medicines?

Take the medicines strictly as per your Dr’s advice. When taking pills, do not touch them with your hands. Tip them into the cap of the container [not in your palm] and take only as many pills as per your prescribed dosage. Store your medicines away from direct sunlight and always away from perfumes or strong odours. Keep them out of reach of children. They are sweet pills yes, but they are medicine nonetheless!

Do I need to avoid onions, garlic and coffee when I am on homeopathic treatment?

Homoeopathic medicine is absorbed from the mouth, hence it’s better to have a clean mouth, free of strong flavours, so that maximum medicine is absorbed. Avoid eating or drinking anything atleast 10 minutes before and after taking your dose. Since coffee, raw onion, raw garlic and mint have strong odours they are best avoided too close to your dosage time. Rest of the diet has to be followed as per the instructions of your Dr or nutritionist, depending on your health condition.

Do homeopathic medicine contains steroids?

No, they do not contain steroids. Homoeopathic medicines are made from plants, flowers, roots, leaves, minerals such as gold, silver etc as well as from parts of animals. But none of the medicines contain steroids in any form.

Is it true that homeopathy is slow acting?

As compared to allopathy, homeopathy may seem slower to act. But that is relative. Often homeopathy gives you an option for cure or relief when allopathy has failed. It treats the disease from the root and does not provide only symptomatic relief. And if you have to reverse diseases that have been with you for months or years together, then you will have to be patient and give it time.

Why do homeopaths ask so many questions?

Those who have taken homeopathy will be familiar with the detailed homeopathic case-taking. It involves asking questions that are seemingly unrelated to the patient’s complaint. The reason for this is, in order for the homeopath to select your right remedy he or she will have to ask you many questions even related to your food cravings, dreams or temperament to get a complete picture of you, physically, emotionally and mentally. Based on this, your remedy is selected and the medicine is prepared.

Why do homeopaths not tell me the name of the medicine given to patient?

There are many reasons for this. Homeopathy remedy selection is a very personalised process and not a one-size-fits-all. After understanding your physical and mental symptoms, the same is matched with a remedy, for selection. And the appropriate dosage is decided. When you visit your homeopath for follow-up, he or she will decide if remedy has to be changed, repeated or dosage needs to be altered. Now, there is a chance that if the name of medicine is shared with the patient, patient may refer to Google guru and try to self medicate or read up more about the remedy and it’s uses. This half information will only cause more confusion in the mind of the patient as you do not have the same subject knowledge as your homoeopath and hence, you will not be able to clearly understand why a particular remedy was given to you.

To take an appointment with a homeopath call +91 9819970703 or write to drgrazilia@gmail.com

Not just the overuse, I would say, often even the use of prescription drugs does the same. When a symptom comes ups, I advice patients to not rush to pop a pill.
Every bout of slight fever does not require a fever medicine.
Every ache does not require a pain-killer. Every sore throat or cough does not require an antibiotic.
Just giving your body rest, nutritious food and hydration, suffices to make the symptoms go away, in most cases. But not everyone has the patience for that.
Often when I tell some patients that they do not need any medicine yet, I get a look that says, “You’re a doctor, then why don’t you give me medicine?!!” Some of us are on a permanent vacation from taking responsibility for our health. We love giving away all the power to the doctor. It’s the easier way out .
Hope that’s not what you are doing.

If you’re the person responsible for the wellness of the staff in your organisation, then this post is specially for you. Because I’m sure at some time you will consider [or have already done so] organising a yoga event of some kind for them.

I regularly teach yoga to employees at corporates, in the form of on-going yoga classes, weekend retreats and 1-2 hour yoga sessions. Based on that, I would like to share with you some tips that you should give thought to while organising a yoga session so that it becomes a win-win situation for everyone.

1] Theme: Always have a theme for your session. This is important because then the trainer can tailor the session to the specific theme and stick to it. Also, people who have that particular issue will make sure they attend the session, will know what to expect and you will get maximum participation from employees. The theme can be something like sleeplessness, neck pain, lower back pain, acidity, improving concentration or the all-time-favourite ‘weight loss’. These are common issues and will draw good footfalls for your session.

2] Type of yoga: So you chose the trainer based on a friend’s recommendation, and sealed the deal because she fit your budget. But do check on the style of yoga that the trainer specialises in. For corporates it’s best to choose someone with an experience in Hatha Yoga as that is the traditional form and will introduce your staff to the basics. It’s also the safest form of yoga, if done the correct way. I would say, resist the temptation to introduce power yoga as not everyone may be able to keep pace with it.

3] Level: Remember, some people who come for the yoga session may not even recall the last time they did any physical activity. For them, sitting crossed legged on the floor doing asanas will be a BIG challenge. Yet for others, they come to the session wanting to learn something new and challenging. So based on the theme, you can ask the trainer to start the session with beginner level poses and then move to intermediate level. For corporate yoga, advanced level poses can be left out.

4] Timing: All your efforts will go waste if you don’t pay attention to timing, date selection and informing your staff in advance. Make sure to not plan the session on month ends, when the staff has more workload, or just before a long weekend. As for timing, best time is in the evening around 4 – 5 pm. On the day of the session, send a reminder to the staff who have registered for the session, that they need to finish off their lunch at least 3 hours prior to the session. Keep at least 15 minutes after the session for people to cool down and also clear their doubts.

5] Attire: Corporate yoga does not need to be done in corporate wear. I have had people show up to the sessions in outfits like skirts, tight trousers and even saris. Insist on changing to work-out attire so they can move freely, comfortably and make the most of the session.

6] Mats: Yoga is no fun without a yoga mat, so your job is not over till you have organised for those. Where do you source them from? Check with the trainer if she can get a few, ask participants to carry theirs and you could also hire a few. If you are using a carpeted area, participants can carry a full length towel to be used in place of a mat and you are sorted.

7] Space: Whether you are using a large conference room, or the cafeteria is being converted to a make-shift yoga room, it will need some sprucing up. The floor will have to be absolutely clean and you can create an ambience by playing relaxing music and lighting aroma candles or incense. Make sure in whatever way you can that the session does not get disturbed by outside noises and others talking.

Corporate yoga sessions are organised in most offices, yet not everyone continues with the practice or enjoys the sessions. Often a little planning can go a long way in creating an impact on the wellness of your staff and improving their morale as well.

Preparing this dessert is a great work-out for your arms, with all the grating and stirring that it involves. But that does not stop me from making this again and again and again… and I bet you’ll say the same after you make it. So let’s get started.

Ingredients:

Red carrots: 1 kg

Coconut milk : 200ml [or of half coconut]

Cardamom powder : 2 tsp

Almonds, raisins, pistachios, cashews: as much as you like

Dates: 15 – 20

Dry dates or khareek: 10 [soaked in warm water for 30 minutes]

How to:

1] Wash, peel and grate the carrots.

2] Take a thick bottom vessel. Add the grated carrot and saute till the raw taste goes away. You may want to do this on medium heat so that it does not get burnt. Stir occasionally.

3] In the meantime, you can prepare the coconut milk and keep it ready. Grind half of a fresh coconut in the grinder. Add warm water to this. Let it stand for 10 – 15 minutes. Then strain it and you have your coconut milk. You can also save some grated coconut that remains after the milk is extracted and add it to the halwa later. You can also use ready-to-use coconut milk, but fresh is better of course.

4] Also de-seed and puree the dates adding some water.

5] After the carrot loses enough moisture and reduces in quantity, then add the coconut milk, date paste, cardamom powder, khareek and dry fruits. You can add the khareek either powdered or chopped. Now the arm work-out begins. To get perfect gajar halwa it’s best to cook this on a low flame and keep stirring. This easily takes about an hour and half.

6] Once the halwa dries up completely, you can add some of the grated coconut that you had saved while extracting coconut milk. And your healthy, guilt-free dessert is ready to be relished.

Tip:

You can adjust the number of dates and khareek as per your taste preference. If the carrots are sweet by themselves you will need to use less of these.

2016 started on a great note. I was one of the lucky few who got to attend the training programme for consultants with Dr Nandita Shah from SHARAN. I was part of this small but vibrant group of doctors, from different streams of medicine, who were all passionate about healing diseases with food and lifestyle changes. The 2 days that we spent together were power packed with learning and also meeting patients who were committed to reversing their diseases through plant-based nutrition.

Another big highlight of the training course [as with any event organised by SHARAN] was the food! It was vegan, oil-free and oh so delicious.

On day 1 the dessert was vegan gajar halwa and day 2 was vegan chocolate ice-cream. To be honest, when I saw the gajar halwa, I thought to myself…. hmm… that looks like something I will skip. For me, if the healthier alternative to the real thing does not taste as good, or at least close to the real thing then I rather not have it altogether. I’m not one of those who can pretend to relish a lame attempt at matching up to the actual ‘unhealthy’ version of the dish.

BUT after I heard the oohs and wows from everyone else at the table I had to dig in. And truth be told, it was delicious!! Mayavi from My Pure Path sure has magic in her hands. I later discovered that this was ‘raw vegan gajar halwa’ that we were served. That explained its salad-like appearance. Soon there were recipes being shared across the table by those who had tried making this guilt-free dessert. It was so good that we gobbled it up during the evening snack time too. Here’s a photo that Dr Saravanan clicked before we demolished the dessert 😀

Now I did get the recipe for the raw version but first happened to share it with a friend who tried it and told me it tasted great. On probing further she confessed that it tasted fine, but not great. What did that mean? “Well it does taste bit raw, but you can eat it if you warm it” 🙂 “But then it’s healthy na, it has to taste little different”, she added. I don’t know what was missing in our recipe, may be it was Mayavi’s magic touch.

And that’s when I decided to adapt the recipe and am mighty pleased with the final product 🙂 It’s dairy-free and sugar-free. So no milk, no ghee, no oil, no mawa and no sugar.

I will share the recipe in the next post. For now make do with the picture and thank you for your patience 😛

Being a health nut is a good thing, but hope you’re not using that excuse to bully others who don’t eat as healthily as you do or who simply eat a different but healthy diet than you eat. Here’s something else I wrote on that topic. The most important thing that food does

I recently read Karan Bajaj’s latest book The Seeker. It’s a spiritual journey of a Wall Street investment banker who gives up his job and life in New York to travel to India. As ground-work for writing this book, the author Karan and his wife Kerry actually took a year-long sabbatical and backpacked from Europe to India by road. Along their trip they also learned a lot of yoga, even became certified yoga trainer. They claimed to have even meditated in the Himalayas to get first hand experience of how it must be for the yogis. I enjoyed reading this book.

Our bodies were not meant to be seated [often in lousy postures!] in a chair all day long. Which is why, anyone who works in an office, must find a way to get more movement during their time there.

How you do that will depend on the type of office space you are in and what your day looks like. As consulting editor to Complete Wellbeing magazine I also spend a few hours of my day in an office, mostly working on a PC. Here I am sharing ideas that I use to make sure that I get some movement during my office hours. See if they work for you…

Avoid the lift whenever possible and take the stairs. If you have some knee or hip pain, then you may have to take the lift. If your office is on a very high floor, you can still take the stairs for half the distance and then use the elevator. Get used to being starred at by those folks waiting for the lift, as you walk towards the staircase. They’ll look at you like you’re some nutcase, but you’ll get used to it.

Take a break to go take a walk… at least twice. It’s better if these timings are fixed, if not, you will tend to forget once you get busy with work. If you decide in advance at what time you will be taking your walk-break you can set an alarm on your phone to remind you. Or use an app that will remind you when it’s time to get up from your seat. You can walk outside your office in the corridor or go down and again come up taking the stairs.

Get a small bottle for water. Ditch the one litre bottle and keep a smaller bottle on your desk [250 -500ml]. This means you’ll have to walk to the pantry to refill your bottle at least twice a day.

If you’re speaking on your mobile, get up from your desk and walk around while talking.

If you have to communicate with a colleague who is in office, avoid calling and walk up to the person’s desk instead.

Do not eat at your desk. Even if it is just a snack. Get up and go to the pantry to eat.

You can also do some stretching exercises on your desk and I’ll share those in another post soon. Most of them can be done discreetly without having to get up from your chair or make a display of your new found passion for fitness.

When seated, make sure your posture is always correct. Back should be straight, shoulders relaxed, feet rested on the floor [or foot rest] and chin parallel to the ground.

These activities are only to give your body a break from sitting in the same position, in a cold environment for hours together. These do not make up for ‘exercise’. You still have to make time for that 🙂